


Family Game Night

by LilliputianDuckling



Category: Among Us (Video Game), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Bat Invasions of Privacy, Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, F/M, Family Bonding, Slice of Life, inappropriate use of surveillance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27139135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilliputianDuckling/pseuds/LilliputianDuckling
Summary: The Bat Family plays Among Us. Bruce gets more emotional than he expected.
Relationships: Past Bruce Wayne/Talia al Ghul, Past Tim Drake/Stephanie Brown, ambiguous Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon
Comments: 9
Kudos: 182





	Family Game Night

Bruce doesn’t know who started playing first - he suspects it was either Stephanie or Duke - but he does know it began with Stephanie, Duke, Tim, and Cassandra. He knows this, because despite Stephanie being off at college, Duke living with his cousin, Tim having his own apartment, and Cassandra being all the way in Hong Kong, they all seemed to have a fairly regular flow of information, clearly updating each other on life, school, work, and cases more frequently than they’ve spoken to anyone else. Bruce hadn’t actually thought anything of that. Stephanie and Cassandra were best friends, and Steph was Tim’s ex-girlfriend; the three of them were extremely close, when Tim and Steph aren’t having one of their falling outs. Bruce… didn’t pretend to understand that relationship. Duke is new, of course, but was in a similar age range, even if he’s still in high school, and he and Stephanie have a lot in common. It makes sense for him to get pulled into their social group. 

Bruce didn’t even realize there was drama until it came bursting out of Dick. 

“It’s a  _ game?! _ ” Nightwing shouted as Bruce pulled the Batmobile into the cave, stepping out. He frowned, watching his eldest and Red Robin. “Holy shit, Tim, I thought you were, like, mad at me!” 

“Why would I be mad at you?” 

“I don’t know! I thought you guys were, like… well... intentionally keeping me out of the loop?” 

Tim smiled at Dick, both eyebrows raised. “Nah, we just do game nights on Fridays. I play with the Titans, too, every other Saturday, unless there’s an emergency or I’ve got a pressing case. Kon thinks I’m trying to stealth train them, but honestly, it’s just fun. I… didn’t think it would be your thing?” 

Evidently it  _ was _ Dick’s thing, or he at least wanted to spend more off-hours time with his siblings. Soon after Dick joined Friday Game Night, Damian demanded to play as well. Bruce suspects Dick invited Barbara, or one of the girls chose to after Dick was invited, now that the group already included someone over the age of 20. 

Bruce has no idea who convinced Jason to join. It’s Jason Bruce asks when he finally gets up the nerve. He doesn’t want to intrude on Jason’s family time if his second oldest doesn’t want him there, but the response wasn’t quite what he’d been expecting. 

**Today** 12:56 PM

Bruce: Jason. Would it be amenable for me to join you kids' session of Among Us this Friday evening? 

**Today** 1:05 PM

Jason: holy shit are you serious 

Jason: omg yes. a million times yes. 

**Today** 5:39 PM

Jason: im still thinking about this, omg. you know this game has murder in it, right?

Jason: cant wait to kill u, dad ☠️😂

Yes, Bruce did, in fact, know the game contained murder. He looked up all the rules online before even attempting to join in. He’d read several guides to game setup for ideal settings based on different play styles and what made for a well-balanced game by the time Friday rolled around, and everyone had logged into Barbara’s lobby. 

“Oh, fuck you, Tim, let me be Red.”

“Not a chance, Jason.” 

“Wait, Alvin is Drake?” 

“It’s, like, a whole thing, Damian, you had to be there.” 

“Don’t condescend to me, Brown, you die first.” 

“Alight, everyone’s heard it here, if Steph’s first out, Damian’s the Imposter.” 

Bruce took pink, most of the other colors already fought for and won by his various children and mentees. Jason snatched up cyan when threatening Tim bodily did not produce the desired result. He would have preferred black, himself, but Cass had already claimed it, and he would never begrudge his daughter anything that made her happy. There seemed to be an unspoken rule that Dick, Steph, and Duke all got blue, purple, and yellow respectively, but the other colors were a mad dash to whoever got to them first. 

“Alright, I’m cyan, that means Damian and Babs can’t kill me.” 

“What? Why?”

“I’m your son! Don’t you know the deep lore of this game, Babs?” 

“Bullshit, Todd. You die after Brown.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” 

Bruce closed his eyes for a moment before they hit start. There was something oddly calming about his children squabbling about murdering each other in this way. Just a cute, colorful game. Not real. Safe. For a moment… he can pretend Jason and Damian never died. Dick and Cassandra never flatlined. He never mourned for Stephanie or Tim. Death existed only in this little fantasy play-pretend, and no one would actually get hurt. 

It was a nice fantasy. 

Bruce sees what Kon-El meant when he thought Tim was ‘stealth training’ the Titans. He approves of this game as a form of recreation. There are detective and espionage elements to the game in equal measure, good for practicing their vigilante skills off the clock. 

It also meant, between nine bats, the games got  _ intense.  _

“Oh, fuck, someone killed Damian.” Duke’s voice crackled over the comlink. 

“Not gonna lie, I’m sus of Steph.” 

“Jason!” 

“What? He said he was gonna kill her, now he’s dead.” 

“No, no, no, everyone shut up! I just saw Cass kill Damian. On cams.” Tim cut in. 

“Wait, wait, wait, when?” 

“Literally, like, two seconds ago, Duke. I saw her on the cams and I ran to the emergency button.” 

“Likely story,” Cass hummed softly. “Self report.” 

“Wait, no, which way did you go, Tim?” 

“To the button.” 

“No, which way did you run? Up or down?” 

“I went up. I went up and then left and then right.” 

“No you didn’t, I was there, you went down.” 

“I went up!” 

“I  _ just  _ came from there, nope!” 

“I’m with Duke on this, Tim’s a fuckin liar.” 

“Steph!” 

“You are! You cannot be trusted, I have not forgotten the I Saw Steph Vent incident! You’re a goddamn liar and an emotionless psychopathic killer, I’m voting Tim.” 

“Duke, are you sure Tim went down?” Dick cut in. 

“Yes, yes, I’m positive. If you just said down, Tim - ” 

“I went up!” 

“Okay,” Dick hummed, “Sorry, Tim.” 

“We all voting Tim?” 

It was not Tim. 

“DUKE, I TRUSTED YOU, YOU HAVE PHOTOKINETIC VISION!” 

“I’m sorry! That doesn't help me here!”

“That’s it, it’s Duke and Cass, don’t trust them.” 

Bruce smiled to himself, his and Dick’s characters running to fix an O2 leak when Dick suddenly knifed him in the back. Bruce’s jaw dropped open slowly, watching Dick’s little blue guy continue on, running toward O2 to turn it off. 

Good alibi. Clever. 

Bruce smirked and leaned back in his chair, switching his com from mute to private. “Et tu, Richard?” 

Dick cackled. “Sorry, B, you voted Cass when everyone else voted Tim, you’re too smart. Had to go.” 

Bruce chuckled and muted, trying to figure out what he’s meant to do now that he’s a ghost. 

“BRUCE IS DEAD!” 

“Where’s the body?” 

“Hallway outside O2.” 

“Oh no….” 

“Okay, okay, okay, where is everyone?” 

“I was doing top oxygen, I didn’t see anything.” 

Alvin: welcome to the dead bats club, B. 

Alvin: who killed you? 

Bruce: Dick. 

Damian: GRAYSON?! 

Alvin: hahahahaha the betrayal!!! 

“We’re all agreed it’s Duke and Cass, right?” 

“Couldn’t be them, they were with me in medical.” 

“Hey, where was Steph?” 

“Don’t look at me. I was at bottom oxygen. Look at Jason.” 

“Me?! I reported the body!” 

“Mm, sus. I think it’s Jason.” 

“It’s not sus!” 

“Me too.”

“Aw, you sons of bitches, why’s everyone turning on me!?” 

“Because it’s  _ you _ , Jay? The list of people dead and the list of people you’ve tried to kill  _ in real life  _ \- “ 

“This is discrimination!” 

“Haha, how’s it feel, Jason? How’s that taste?” Stephanie cackled. 

There was a chorus of shouts as  _ YOLT was not An Imposter … 2 Imposters remain  _ ticker taped across the screen. 

“YEAH, TRAINED BY THE WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVE MY ASS!” 

“Oh nooooo, sorry, Jay.”

“Mmhm, yeah, bet you’re real sorry.” 

Dick and Cass won the round. 

“Aw, you son of a bitch….” 

“Great game, Cass, you were awesome!” 

“Thank you.” 

They played three rounds of crew wins and lost a particularly vicious Tim and Jason imposter teamup when the inevitable finally happened. 

Bruce stared at the screen: Imposter. Bruce. Babs. 

Bruce blinked as the game started up. He hesitated and then moved to pretend to swipe his card. 

He knew the strategies to win as the imposter. Deception was the name of the game, and a good imposter used more than just lying. Either Tim or Jason seemed to be a fan of cutting the lights, and it had been used extremely effectively in their game. Bruce likes to think he taught them that. They would use each other as an alibi, demonstrating more teamwork than Bruce had expected of his middle sons. 

Then Bruce found himself alone in electrical with Jason. It was the perfect moment to take him out. They can’t be seen on camera. Bruce could sabotage the doors and leave via the vent, and no one would find the body for a while. 

Bruce’s mouse hovered over the kill button. 

Jason’s cyan character finished his task and scampered from the room. Bruce rubbed his eyes, groaning. 

The report buzzer sounded. 

“I will be avenging Grayson’s murder.” 

“Oh my god, Dick is dead!” 

“Where is everybody?” 

"Bruce and I were in electrical for a while, and I’m still alive, so.” 

No one was ejected that round. 

Bruce got the perfect opportunity next round, finding Damian on cams. He could take him out now, no one saw him enter but Damian, vent out, and pin the murder on whoever finds the body. If he’s lucky, it’ll be Tim, whom Stephanie is very trigger happy to accuse of lying. He could meet up with Barbara and have her as an alibi when the meeting gets called. It would be easy. 

The arrow hovered over the kill button. 

Bruce closed his eyes and took his hand off the mouse. 

The alarm buzzed, Tim calling an emergency meeting. 

“I found Jason’s body by medscan.”

“Hm. A likely story.” 

“Steph, for the love of god, let go of the venting thing.” 

“Never.” 

“Whatever, where was everyone else?” 

“Father was defending my person while I was using the cameras.” 

Tim was ejected. 

“I found a body, and I saw someone running away.” 

“Who was it?” 

“It was Cass.” 

“Cass is dead, Duke.” 

“Oh, oh, oh, no, you meant - yeah, no, I didn’t see, it was dark.” 

“Where was everyone?” Barbara asked. 

“I just turned on the lights.” 

“I’m in cafeteria.” 

“I saw Stephanie and Duke together, but I went to admin by myself.” Bruce wasn’t even lying. He had no idea how Barbara pulled off a kill right before Damian hit the lights. 

“So, hold on, Duke, what did you see, exactly?” 

“I saw Cass just flop over.” 

“Oh, so it was fresh.” 

“Yeah.” 

“And three of you are saying you were together?” 

“I was with Steph and Bruce.” 

“I broke off to go to admin, and I passed Stephanie and Duke again, and they were still together.” 

“And where was Damian?” 

“I just turned on the lights, there is no possible way it could have been me, Gordon.” 

“True…” 

Stephanie tsked. “Hey, where were you, Babs?” she asked as the voting countdown started. 

“I saw Bruce go left, so I went to admin, and I decided to go right. Then the lights went out, so I was running in the dark.” 

They ran out of time and no one got ejected. Bruce let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. 

With two imposters and three crewmates, Barbara just stabbed Damian in front of everyone right there in the cafeteria. VICTORY flashed across Bruce’s screen as all his children turned their coms back on. 

“Oh my god - “ 

“Sonovabitch!” 

“Bruce, I carried that entire lobby, I can’t believe you didn’t kill  _ anyone _ !” 

Bruce smiled softly. 

When everyone was logged off, Bruce took the time to watch his own cameras. 

He watched Dick have his evening cereal before bed, alone in his Blüdhaven apartment, watching TV. 

Duke’s cousin Jay calls for lights out at eight; Bruce watches the whole charade of getting ready for bed and turning out the light before Duke sticks headphones in his phone and crawls into bed to scroll the internet in the dark. Maybe on social media. Probably texting his girlfriend. 

There’s no cameras in Stephanie’s dorm. Even Bruce can see how bugging the college dorm room of two nineteen year old girls, one is a family friend and one you don’t even know, is probably crossing a line… even if it  _ would totally be safer. _

Barbara definitely knows about her cameras, as she’s uninstalled several she must have deemed ‘inappropriate,’ but he can still see her milling around her living space in her pajamas, throwing some laundry in the basket. She has her own cameras in Dick’s apartment, he knows, and he suspects Luke Fox’s as well. She understands the need for security. 

Tim is at his desk with a case pulled up on his computer and a coffee in hand. Since he’s possibly the most chill with camera usage, except for maybe Barbara, Bruce goes ahead and shoots him a text that he shouldn’t have coffee before bed. Tim looks at his phone and then looks straight at the camera in his vent. “Good thing I’m not going to bed.” 

Bruce chuckled, and turned off the cameras. He was unable to bug Jason’s apartment, and their relationship was a bit tenuous anyway. No need to fan the flames with an argument over surveillance. Cassandra’s apartment in Hong Kong was a bit difficult to reach; he hadn’t had an opportunity to set anything up there. 

Bruce logged off and headed upstairs. He found Damian in his bedroom, already asleep with Titus and Alfred The Cat on his oversized bed. He smiled softly and approached. Titus lifted his head, but relaxed upon seeing Bruce, settling back down. 

Bruce leaned over and kissed his youngest son’s forehead. 

“Good night, son.” 

He walked to his own room, passing the tomb of what once was Jason’s bedroom, then Cassandra’s bedroom, then the room that was Dick’s for so long only to later become Tim’s when he moved out of the carriage house. 

Bruce wishes, not for the first time as he crawled into bed and set his alarm for four hours, that there had been a time when all his children had been under one roof. It’s a fantasy - maybe he could have saved Thalia, married her, raised Damian in a loving and normal home. Dick would be in high school, with Jason and Cass in middle school, and little Tim would still be in elementary… 

With Duke, little bitty Duke, in 3rd grade, if Duke could have been his, really his, if he could just keep him forever….

Bruce closes his eyes and feels like a terrible person. He didn’t have the right to want that. Duke had loving parents. Dick had loving parents. Jason… 

Catherine Todd loved that boy, and while things might have been hard and complicated, and maybe she wasn’t the best mom, Jason would never have wanted a life without her.

Bruce never liked the Drakes, heavily suspected neglect, but Tim loved them. So much. 

...Perhaps Cass. Bruce couldn’t feel any guilt for wanting to steal his baby girl away from David Cain forever and ever and always. 

It was a nice thought, though. Having all his kids under one roof. 

But even if Duke will never legally be his, even if Jason is legally dead and still generally avoids family gatherings, even if Dick and Tim never make their on-again-off-again relationships with Barbara and Stephanie work out, even if Bruce can’t stop screwing things up… maybe that’s fine. Maybe their scattered, divided family held together by raw love and little else… is fine. 

Maybe game night could be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Borrowed from Gloom's Among Us games on YouTube. I've actually never played, I hope everything makes sense.


End file.
